Sunday, 19 June 2016

The Doomwing of Tzeentch is thought by Imperial Scholars to be a medium-sized attack craft similar in combat role and effectiveness to the more common Heldrake. It is almost exclusively seen in the armies of the Great Conspirator, swooping low across the enemies of Chaos, ripping apart tanks and scorching scores of soldiers with daemonic flames.In terms of armaments they share identical load-outs, the dreaded Hades Autocannon for anti-armour duties, and Baleflamers for incinerating infantry in raging infernos. Doomwings attack in a similar fashion to the smaller disc-daemons known as Screamers. Unlike the Helldrake, which claws and bites at the armies below, it instead slashes with its mighty wings, the edges of which appear super-heated by the speed it travels or my magical influence. Like a knife through butter, these bladed wings cut open tanks and soldiers alike, leaving similarly messy results to the Heldrakes talon strikes. Though no two Doomwings are truly alike, they all share a common appearance: large swooping wings, bedecked in faux (or sometimes real) feathers, burning sigils and icons of the change god. They feature an avian-like head at the front, crafted in the likeness of greater daemons. The 'pilots' of these craft are barely recognisable, and like many vehicles of the dark hordes, the pilot's body has fused completely with the daemon bound to it. It is unknown whether they have any sentience left or if they are given completely to the new host.In flight, Doomwings are very hard to focus on. Whether through blistering speed or sorcery, their outlines shimmer with warpflame, making them harder to hit. When they arrive, a shrill scream slices through the air, bursting eardrums and driving many to madness. And this is before the torrents of flame and bullets rain down...

Here it is, a new flyer for the Thousand Sons. A while ago I ran a Heldrake with the Sons, but I was never 100% sold on it. Whilst it is a great looking flyer, the aesthetic of it didn't fit with my Thousand Sons, who I wanted to have a string Tzeentch-look to them (especially of late). I came across an image of the old epic Doomwing. Which is was clearly a very old model, I loved the overall feel of it, and after seeing a great sketch of an updated version, I was motivated to rebuilt it.

Truth be told this is a project I started a long time ago, but never got around to finishing. What started off as a Chaos Lightning soon turned into an abandoned husk. But as you can see, I finally got about to fixing the poor flyer up.

The hull is the main section (and probably only real GW section) of the craft, and was from an Ork Bomma. The wings and head are completely scratch built-with two heavy flamers inserted in the head to act as the Baleflamer.

Like the linked drawing, I decided to go with metal feathers for the wings, which were far too bland for my tastes. Rivets and some greenstruff detailing help complete the look.

My favourite part is the pilot, who is clearly now one with the craft, whether he likes it or not! The body is the torso of one of the chaos Chosen from the Dark Vengeance kit. I chose this particular one for the rebreather tube and exposed rib cage, which work well for the conversion. A ton of greenstuff, cables and vents help fill out the Ork Cockpit. The arm fused with the cockpit was 100% sculpted and a complete accident, but I went along with it and it's turned out fantastic.

As you can see there's a long way to go until it's finished, but it's great knowing that an old project is finally getting some love. Hopefully the Fire Raptor/Storm Eagle follows suit.

Sunday, 5 June 2016

Shiny gemstones are a great way to add some realistic details to your model. whether it's a snazzy ring or a helmet's glass lenses, being able to paint perfect gemstones and glass is a handy technique. Now Games Workshop has released a set of three technical paints especially for this.

I've bought two of the three new pots, Waystone Green and Spiritstone Red, to try out, and see how it compares to my usual technique.

Firstly these two paints are a bit thicker than normal paints (especially the red): not base colour or textured thick, but fairly gelatinous compared to normal colours. This would mean that for smaller parts you only need a tiny amount. The best way I can describe these paints is that they're a mix of a glaze and gloss varnish. They'll tint whatever you paint with that colour, and leave a very smooth, shiny coat.

The GW site recommends painting them over the top of a bright silver. I tried these colours over Mithril rather than the newer silver shade, and the effect are, interestingly, quite good. It's not a style I'd use for gemstones, but for lenses on machinery this effect would look great. These colours can be used in other ways to achieve different effects.

On my Contemptor, I've tried painting them over a bright like-for-like colour (Goblin green for Waystone and Evil Sunz Scarlet with some orange for Spiritstone) for more stone-like effects (i'd say the previous efforts give a glass-like effect . I'd argue that this yields much better, realistic results, especially if you want darker looking stones. I think of the two I've tried the red gems look better, but this is a technique which will be refined.

In some lights I'd say you get a better shine than a normal gloss coat over the top. the red stones look fantastic when the light catches them.

In the end I've found that you get similar results to painting gems the old fashioned way, but it's a lot quicker and easier. So if you're after a fast way to paint effective looking gemstones, then these new technical paints are a good option. If you've already mastered a technique then this doesn't really achieve anything different, but if you want to try something new, give these paints a go.